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8<J5S©Ilifi 



STORY 

OF THE WRITING 

OF THE 

STAR-SPANGLED 

BANNER 

BY 

JOHN WATSON VAN DEMAN 



NINETEEN TWENTY-ONE 
















































JOHN WATSON VAN DEMAN 




STORY 

OF THE WRITING 

OF THE 

STAR-SPANGLED 

BANNER 

BY 

JOHN WATSON VAN DEMAN 



NINETEEN TWENTY-ONE 




Habitation 


To the National Patriotic Instructors of 
America, whom I am proud to claim as 
fellow-workers in sowing the seeds of 
Patriotism broadcast throughout our land, 
I respectfully dedicate this little book. 


THE AUTHOR. 


i 


SEP 24 1921 



Copyright 1921 


4 





FOREWORD 


$> 


ERHAPS a few words here will not be out of 
place in explanation of my reason for taking it 
upon myself to write the history of this song we 
all love. It may seem strange that a man living 
in Michigan, so far away from the place where 
these scenes occurred, and so long after the time 
of their occurrence, should be sufficiently interested in them, 
and in the right understanding of them by all Americans, to 
assume this task. 


There has ever been a strong vein of Patriotism in my fam¬ 
ily. My great-grandfather came with a colony of his parish¬ 
ioners to Germantown, Pa., before the Revolution. He was 
of the type of immigrants so quaintly described in Whittier’s 
“Pennsylvania Pilgrim”. 

My grandfather was with Washington at Valley Forge, 
was wounded at the battle of Brandywine, and was also in an 
expedition against the Indians at Point Pleasant, Virginia, 
where one of his brothers was scalped but not tomahawked. 

Just after the Revolution my grandfather came to the 
Scioto Valley in Ohio, began a clearing, and started a crop of 
corn. He then walked back to Pennsylvania to get his pay 
from the Government, which had been long overdue. He re¬ 
ceived in payment a land grant. 

Two of my uncles started from southern Ohio for upper 
Sandusky, to enlist in the War of 1812. One of them, my 
Uncle Conrad, died of measles at a camp on the Olentangy 
river, near Delaware, Ohio. I remember when a lad, being 
with my parents at his grave. 

My mother’s grandfather was a Sergeant Case, of Canton, 
Connecticut. Perhaps because of this ancestry, I have always 
been deeply interested in all that has led to our country’s growth 
and preservation, and as Patriotic Instructor of my Grand 
Army Post (No. 372 Dep’t Michigan) I have felt that in 
speaking to the schools of my department, I ought to do my 
“bit” toward bringing the history and true meaning of this 


5 




grand song before my hearers by telling them some of the facts 
it has been my good fortune to learn about the when, the 
where, the how and the why, of the writing of the Star 
Spangled Banner; and as it was impossible for me to present 
these facts personally before* every school in the land, I have 
put them into booklet form, hoping in this way to widen my 
field of usefulness in the cause of Patriotism. 

I hope that, as people young and old hear and read my 
story, their interest in Patriotic Songs may be increased, and 
many be led to memorize not only the Star Spangled Banner, 
but scores of similar songs. That they may write essays and 
deliver orations showing their love for their country, and be 
spurred on to help spread this story until it is known in millions 
of “little red schoolhouses” all over the land, as well as in High 
Schools and Academies. 

Wherever it goes, may blessings go with it. 

JOHN WATSON VAN DEMAN, 
December, 1919. Benzonia, Michigan. 


6 


“3 linoU) a Hanb” 


I know a land where welcome waits 
Each honest heart, whate’er its race; 

That opens wide its friendly gates, 

And finds for all a chance and place. 

Of that dear land my song shall be, 

The land I love, America. 

I know a land so fair and broad 

Where men are free to think and toil; 

Where honest zeal wins just reward, 

And all may own and till the soil. 

No other land so broad and free, 

The land I love, America. 

There mighty rivers seek the sea, 

And fertile plains roll mile on mile; 

There ring the songs of Liberty, 

And lives are blessed beneath her smile, 

O ever dear, that land shall be, 

The land I love, America. 

There happy homes ’neath sunny skies, 

Make glad the hearts that hold them dear; 

There shines the light in women’s eyes, 

The light we love, undimmed by fear. 

Oh land so beautiful and free, 

The land I love, America. 

Oh, in that land my home shall be, 

Where’er my birth-place may have been; 

To thee I pledge my fealty, 

None else shall my allegiance win. 

Oh, I would give my life for thee, 

Dear land I love, America. 

Written by Mrs. Mary K. Buck, 

Traverse City, Mich. 


7 



STORY OF THE WRITING OF 
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 


3 N the beginning of the year 1915, the attention of the 
people of the State of Michigan was called to two of 
the patriotic songs of our Nation. The Honorable Fred. 
L. Keeler, Commissioner of Education, issued circulars 
to all the schools of the State, directing the pupils to 
memorize, during the first two weeks of February, the words 
of “America” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” 

In those weeks these songs were well fixed in the minds of 
thousands of Michigan’s young people. It was a valuable ad¬ 
dition to their education and many other states might “Go and 
do likewise”. It was a good work, far-reaching as the life of 
our Nation. 

To the words of the first of these songs, so many eulogies 
have been written that I would not presume to add anything; 
but regarding the second, it seems to me much may be said 
in addition to that which has been previously known, in ex¬ 
planation of the cause of its being written, that will increase its 
historical value, and awaken new interest in the minds of all 
Americans. 

It may be that having these scenes described by one who 
has been on the very ground where they occurred, may arouse 
additional interest in teachers and pupils. In this case, they 
will be more than welcome to any help they may be able to 
draw from these facts I have gathered with so much pleasure. 

My regiment (the 60th O. V. I. 1st Edition) had passed 
up Chesapeake Bay and the Patapsco River channel past Ft. 
McHenry, from Annapolis to Baltimore at the time of the 
battle of Antietam in our Civil War, and it had long been 
my wish to re-visit the place where this song had been written. 

I knew that the Centennial of its writing was to be cele¬ 
brated at Baltimore in September, 1914, but owing to the frail 
health of my wife, I did not go; but when I found I could 
attend the National Encampment of the G. A. R. which was 
to meet at Washington, D. C., in the Fall of 1915, I resolved 
to go, knowing that if I got to Washington, I could soon get 
to Baltimore. 


8 




On September 28th, 1915, with the aid of my cane, I 
marched in parade on that grandest of streets, Pennsylvania 
Avenue, where, more than fifty years before, on June 24th, and 
25th, 1865, 80,000 men, home from the Union armies, in 
the prime of life, followed the bugle, the fife, and the drum in 
that great parade proudly and gallantly tho’ saddened by the 
thought that the martyred Lincoln—the greatest man of the 
English speaking race—for whom they had fought, could not 
witness their victorious return to the homes they had defended. 

Now, on September 28th, 1915, less than 20,000 veterans 
of the G. A. R. marched in parade; many with “falt’ring steps 
and slow” but all with undaunted, jubilant hearts, carrying 
battle-flags half a century old. 

The line of march led from the Capitol to the Treasury 
Building, then North and West past the front of the White 
House where stood President Wilson on his reviewing stand 
waving his hat to this remnant of the Grand Army; then end¬ 
ing the parade in front of the magnificent Army and Navy 
Building; marching all the way between crowds of cheering 
citizens and beneath clouds of starry flags. 

Then, one Autumn morning, October 4th, my long de¬ 
layed wish was realized, and I boarded a trolley car on the 
Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis R. R. and in less than 
two hours was on the historic ground of Ft. McHenry. 

This was for many years a United States Reservation, but 
had lately been dedicated to the city of Baltimore as a park. 
It is on a point jutting out into the Patapsco River, from which 
there is a commanding view of Baltimore Harbor. The fort 
had at that time no guards, guides or officials to show me points 
of interest. A few men were mowing weeds and spraying 
kerosene upon the pools of water. I climbed up on some of the 
largest guns; eighteen pounders were “Great Guns” in 1814. 

I stood at the base of a monument erected to the memory 
of Col. George Armistead, who commanded the fort on Sep- 
temer 13th and 14th, 1814, when the British were defeated 
decisively and forced to retreat down the Bay. 

I gazed sea-ward “Thro’ the mists of the deep” for there 
were still, at 11 A. M. that day, clouds of fog hiding some 
of the ships that were coming and going in the harbor. 

There had been, at the time of the Centennial, a Govern- 


9 


ment Buoy located in the ship channel leading down the bay, 
showing as nearly as could be determined by the testimony of 
the survivors of those battles where lay the “ Minderi ', the ship 
on which Francis Scott Key and his companions were prisoners 
of war when this song was written. This buoy had been re¬ 
moved by the Government Lighthouse Board, no doubt because 
it interfered with navigation in the channel. 

After leaving the fort I visited John Hopkins University, 
and obtained from one of the professors a book called “Mary¬ 
land in the War of 1812”. This book is authority for many 
of my statements, and is no doubt correct. From the U. S. 
Coast Survey I obtained charts showing the rivers and bays 
where the British ships sailed, and of the Maryland penin¬ 
sula where the red-coated soldiers marched in attacking Wash¬ 
ington City. I also obtained a book published by the U. S. 
Government containing facsimiles of several copies of the song 
as written out for friends of the author by himself. I heard 
some stories and saw some relics of those days. 

The causes of the war and conditions at that time I leave 
to textbooks or to other authors. My object now is to tell 
what I was privileged to find out in my visit to Baltimore 
to study this subject. I hope to make clear many points which 
have not been well or widely known until since the Centennial 
referred to I had lived on these shores three years, from 1892 
to 1895, employed in the oyster business among the people whose 
grandsires built, manned and sailed American ships and fought 
and won these battles. 

This story has to be spread over a panorama of about 10,- 
000 square miles, and a month’s time. It covers the marching 
of 4,000 red-coated soldiers from the mouth of the Potomac 
River to Washington City, its capture by them, and their re¬ 
turn to their base laden with spoils. Then, their second ex¬ 
pedition aimed at Baltimore by these same soldiers eager for 
another easy victory, and also a fleet of England’s most power¬ 
ful warships. After this expedition had failed in its attacks 
both by land and sea, and had begun its retreat, this song was 
written. 

This was a time of great moment in the history of our 
country. This Government “of the people, by the people, for 
the people” was as yet an experiment which the crowned heads 


10 


of Europe and tyrants everywhere hoped would soon be 
crushed out. There had been opposition to the declaration of 
war against so great a power as England; there was still op¬ 
position by Tories and Slackers. Unpreparedness was abroad 
then as it was in the 20th century to the great sorrow and 
detriment of our land. We might have again become vassals 
of Great Britain had not the courage of the men of Mary¬ 
land, New Jersey and Pennsylvania risen to the occasion. 

This song was written among the echoes of roaring cannons^ 
bursting bombs and screaming rockets, by a man who had just 
seen the fair Capitol of this new Republic laid waste by its 
foes. Its public buildings, its President’s house, its Capitol, in 
ashes; its defenders in panic-stricken, inglorious retreat. 

This great patriotic song may be more of an uplift and in¬ 
spiration to those who read it, hear it, sing it or hear it sung, 
if they understand some of the details of the hardships and 
horrors attending its writing, as told to their sons and families 
by many survivors who still lived at the time of our Civil War. 
It may also be interesting to know that the very same flag men¬ 
tioned in the song is still in existence in the museum at Wash¬ 
ington where its ancient folds are carefully suspended in a 
covering of netting to preserve them, and where it will prob¬ 
ably remain as long as its threads hold together. It had fif¬ 
teen stars and fifteen stripes; each stripe was twenty-four inches 
wide, making the width of the entire flag thirty feet; its length 
being forty feet. From 1795 to 1818 the U. S. flag contained 
this number of stripes but as the number of states increased 
it was seen that to add a stripe for each one would make the 
flag too bulky, so it was decided to return to the original thir¬ 
teen stripes, adding another star to the field for each new state. 
The “Francis Scott Key Flag” as it is called, has now only 
fourteen stars, one star having been cut from its field and pre¬ 
sented to President Lincoln during his administration. 

This song was written on board the sloop or schooner 
“Minden”, a U. S. messenger ship lying at anchor among the 
British fleet in the ship channel of the Patapsco River, below 
Baltimore in sight of Ft. McHenry, between dawn and dark 
on Septemer 14th, 1814. The record plainly says the first 
copy was written on the back of a letter found in the pocket 
of the author. The particulars here following may help to 
show ‘why” it was written. 


11 


England being at war with France, embargoes forbidding 
our ships to attempt to carry freight or merchandise to Europe, 
because they would most certainly be captured by one or the 
other of the warring nations, had caused them to stay at home, 
rotting at their wharves for years before the war of 1812 
began. 

At the outset the U. S. Navy had only seven two-masted 
square-rigged ships called Frigates, and a few smaller vessels 
some of them unseaworthy, but they at this time had won their 
way into prominence by their success whenever they had a fair 
chance. The British navy had 1000 ships of war in active 
service fully equipped; but the Americans had 100,000 seamen 
as good as ever trod a deck or reefed a tops’l. This was 
acknowledged by the British statesmen in their debates. 

Now was the test upon us. Was our fond dream of a 
Republic, a government by the consent of the governed, a 
government of and by the people to fail or succeed? Was our 
appeal to the God of battles unheard ? This land of refuge 
to which our colonies had come and to which the oppressed of 
all nations had been coming, should it fail ? If we failed, to 
whom should the oppressed turn? England ruled the seas; 
could we resist her, and keep our own little barque afloat? 

Our capital was practically on the sea-board, but we thought 
it was protected in great measure from easy approach by its 
distance up the crooked Potomac River; and we also thought 
that we would have time that spring to gather militia and to 
fortify our ports against our foes. 

Our country was mainly settled and improved along the 
sea-board and was in greatest danger there. The states easiest 
reached from the ocean felt the pressure most. Our resources 
were undeveloped as yet, and almost unknown; still we held 
on; we kept our course. We could no longer endure the cap¬ 
ture and impressment of our seamen into the British navy be¬ 
cause they had once/been Englishmen. Baltimore had been 
one of the first to respond to the call to arms. The Virginia 
Capes were an easy landfall to invaders and people there had 
suffered severely. Our cities being coast towns our products 
having always to be carried to foreign ports, our people were 
on the alert, and on the declaration of war they sprang to 
arms, especially on the sea, to resist invading ships. 


12 


Although England “ruled the seas” she had not enough war¬ 
ships to protect her merchant vessels, so according to the cus¬ 
tom of that time, our congress authorized the fitting out of 
small warships called Privateers by any citizen who had the 
means and ability to build and man them. To these Privateers 
the President issued “Letters of Marque and Reprisal”. A 
copy of one of these documents follows. 

PRIVATEER’S COMMISSION. 

By the President of the United States of America. 

Suffer the Big INCA of Baltimore, Maryland, Alexander 
Thompson Master or Commander, burthen of two hundred 
and thirty (230) and three ninety-fifths (3/95) Tons or there¬ 
abouts, mounted with two (2) guns, navigated with twenty- 
two (22) men, to pass with her company, passengers, goods and 
merchandise without hindrance, seizure or molestation; the said 
ship appearing by good testimony to belong to one or more of 
the citizens of the U. S. A. and fo him or them only. 

Given under my hand and the seal of the United States of 
America, on the 23rd day of October in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirteen. 

By the President, James Madison. 

James Monroe, Secretary of State. 
Countersigned, James H. McCullough, Collector. 

This Commission authorized the Privateers to capture Eng¬ 
lish vessels, but required them to observe the rights of neutrals, 
and the usages of civilized warfare. 

Within one month after war was declared, 65 American 
vessels were fitted out at Baltimore, armed, manned by Amer¬ 
ican sailors, and out at sea, bringing in British ships as prizes, 
or, after taking off the crew and passengers as prisoners, and 
taking as much of the cargo as they wanted, or could carry, 
burning the ships at sea. In this way American seamen won the 
war, and English shipping was nearly swept off the seas. 

England was engaged in war against Napoleon Bonaparte 
and could not bring her warships or troops across the Atlantic 
at once in great numbers, but by March 26th, 1813 the entire 
coast of the United States (excepting Rhode Island, New 
Hampshire and Massachusetts) was declared blockaded by 


13 


England. The state government of these three states had ob¬ 
jected to the war and the British regarded them as friendly to 
their cause, and hoped if they were not subjected to the dis¬ 
comfort of the blockade they might be induced to join forces 
with the invaders against the United States. 

The English ships had been filled with soldiers from the 
scum of the European armies, who committed wholesale rob¬ 
beries at many places where they landed. Especially cruel were 
they at Hampton and at Ocracoke Inlet, in 1812 and 1813. 
Lord Napier, a distinguished and honorable English admiral, 
said that many of these ruffians should have been shot by their 
Commander Lord Cockburn, who allowed and encouraged 
them to plunder and terrify the inhabitants. Along with the 
plunder the British ships carried away in the fall of 1813 
were 170 negro slaves, taken to Bermuda from the coast towns 
of Maryland and Virginia. 

In the spring of 1814 the English made up a large fleet to 
finish the subjugation of the United States. Fifty ships of 
war and three transports carrying 4000 soldiers under Gen. 
Robert Ross, sailed in July from the English channel, stopping 
at Bermuda, arriving at the Capes of Virginia August 10th, 
and in Chesapeake Bay at Point Lookout at the mouth of the 
Potomac River August 15th. 

The only force the Americans had ready on this part of our 
coast, with which to meet this invading host, was a little flo¬ 
tilla of 30 small gunboats and barges using oars and sails, that 
had been collected in Maryland by a noble sailor named Barney. 
This Captain John Barney had distinguished himself early in 
the war by sailing in the Privateer Rossie on July 12th, 1812, 
returning November 10th of the same year. In less than four 
months he captured 4 English ships, 8 brigs, 3 schooners and 
13 sloops, valued with their cargoes at more than $1,500,000. 
The U. S. Government then gave him a Commodore’s Com¬ 
mission in our growing navy. His little fleet lay in a river 
which I must now describe, the Patuxent. 

The crooked Potomac River which figured so largely in 
our Civil War, comes down from the summit of the Alleghe¬ 
nies forming the peculiar western boundary of Maryland for 
hundreds of miles; this was the stream on which the British 
fleets were expected to come to attack Washington City, our 
Capital, which was to be defended now if ever. 

14 


Between this river and Chesapeake Bay, lies a peninsula 
containing three counties: Prince George, out of the northern 
corner of which was taken part of the District of Columbia; 
Charles Co. in the middle, and St. Marys Co. at the south 
where the Potomac flows into Chesapeake Bay at Point Look¬ 
out. Much of this land is flat and swampy and was mostly in 
forest at that time. Plantations were at the head of the 
creeks and small bays, and towns were built on the points jut¬ 
ting out into the rivers and larger bays. 

Coming down through this peninsula parallel to Chesa¬ 
peake Bay is this Patuxent River I have mentioned; a tide¬ 
water stream navigable for ships 25 miles from its mouth, for 
barges 25 miles farther, and for oyster boats and bateaux nearly 
to its head which is not far from Baltimore. 

Instead of sending a fleet 200 miles up the crooked Potomac, 
the British could come up that river for 50 miles to Port To¬ 
bacco. and march their soldiers 54 miles due north to the 
U. S. Navy Yard at Washington. Here was a bridge one-half 
mile long which the British expected would be stoutly defended 
or perhaps burned to prevent their approach to Washington 
from that direction. 

But there was a shorter route that had been worked out by 
the British admiral and Lord Cockburn during the campaign 
of the previous years that they were careful to say nothing about 
until they were ready to march upon Washington. This was 
to go up Chesapeake Bay to the mouth of the Patuxent at St. 
Leonard’s Bay and from there up the river to a point only about 
22 miles from the Capital, thus taking the American army by 
surprise and from an entirely unexpected quarter. In this they 
succeeded only too well. 

The American army of the Potomac was not yet organized. 
On July 1st Commodore Barney had been summoned from his 
flotilla on Leonard’s Creek at the mouth of the Patuxent, to 
Washington to consult about the defense of that city, and Bal¬ 
timore. He was ordered to send his 1st lieutenant and 400 
men with 14 of his barges up the Chesapeake Bay to aid in the 
defense of Baltimore, and to retain 500 men with the rest of 
the flotilla to oppose Admiral Cockburn’s ships, but to retire 
before him, and if pressed too hard to burn his boats to prevent 
the enemy from getting them. 


15 


Barney alone was ready. All else was unpreparedness. On 
July 4th Congress had waked up and authorized the Secretary 
of War to issue a requisition upon all the states for 93,500 men 
to defend the Union. Owing to a defect in the militia laws of 
Pennsylvania she could send no men immediately. Out of the 
quota called from Virginia, she sent 600 infantry and 300 caval¬ 
ry. She also sent 2,000 militia but these were without arms or 
tents. 

Maryland responded nobly to the defense of Baltimore, 
and sent 2,000 well armed Militia for the defense of Washing¬ 
ton, to Bladensburg, just before the battle there. 

A Militia Colonel or General named Winder (a lawyer) 
had been appointed Commander of this department of the Po¬ 
tomac; he now began rushing nervously around trying to get 
these raw Militia and independent companies of cavalry and 
artillery who had never seen war, into shape, to meet and re¬ 
pulse the veterans who had fought successfully against Napo¬ 
leon’s troops in Flanders and the Netherlands. Gen. Winder 
seemed to have no executive ability nor even the ability to get 
his men into fighting condition, although he appears to have 
tried hard to do so. He had 10,000 men assembling to his com¬ 
mand, nearly all of them green Militia men who had never 
been in a battle. They had expected the British to attack 
Washington via the Potomac River but when they saw the 
enemy coming up the Patuxent peninsula they began to take 
notice and prepare to meet them. 

President Madison and other officials went out from Wash¬ 
ington on August 10th, and reviewed the 2,000 men assembled 
as the U. S. army in the plains of Maryland toward the Pa¬ 
tuxent River near Upper Marlboro. On August 17th Rear- 
Admiral Malcomb arrived at the mouth of the Potomac with 
another squadron from England. He sent Capt. J. A. Gor¬ 
don with the Frigate Seahorse and other warships up the 
Potomac to attack Fort Washington, 12 miles below our 
Capital. Capt. Peter Parker with another squadron was sent 
up Chesapeake Bay to harass and plunder the people on his 
way to Baltimore, which city was to be attacked when Wash¬ 
ington was disposed of. 

On August 18th the British started northward the Amer¬ 
ican army keeping ahead of them with scouts and skirmishers. 


16 


It seems now, as it did then to a British Subaltern whose jour¬ 
nal is preserved, that our Militia might have blocked their ad¬ 
vance by felling trees across the narrow roads, and with their 
good marksmanship wounded and killed many of them, but all 
that Gen. Winder did was to keep between them and Wash¬ 
ington with an occasional stop for skirmishing. On August 
20th, the British fleet got up to Benedict on the Patuxent where 
the channel was found to be too narrow, and the water too 
shallow for warships. The Admiral put some of his smaller 
cannons on barges, gunboats and tenders, with all the sailors and 
marines they could carry, and with wind and tide and oars 
pushed on up the river, leaving his ships at anchor cared for 
by marines. The soldiers marching on roads parallel with the 
river reached Upper Marlboro, the county seat of Prince 
George Co. on the night of the 21st of August. Before they 
reached there, on passing the opening above what was then 
called Pig Point, they came upon Barney’s flotilla and attempted 
to capture it; but in accordance with orders Lieutenant Frazier 
burned or blew up 15 of the 16 boats and joined Gen. Winder’s 
army at Long Old Fields on the west branch of the Patuxent 
about 20 miles east of Washington. 

Here was held another review of the American troops, 
and after a slight skirmish with the British who had come up, 
they retired to the Navy Yard bridge at Washington. 

On August 23rd, Gen. Ross moved his troops and the 
marines from Pig Point to Mt. Calvert and to Upper Marl¬ 
boro. The same day Gen. Winder advanced from the Navy 
Yard to Bladensburg about 5 miles east of Washington where 
he had decided to make a stand. 2,000 Maryland troops had 
arrived that night from Baltimore via Annapolis, but there was 
no Commander to take charge of them and they were allowed 
to pass through the village and camp at the west side, away 
from the approach of the enemy instead of at the east side where 
they would have been in position to defend the village and the 
bridge crossing. 

On his way to Bladensburg Gen. Winder and 2,000 troops 
stopped at a place called the “Wood Yard” 12 miles east of 
Bladensburg, and held a review or dress parade before the Pre¬ 
sident, seeing at the same time the British army marching to 
Mt. Calvert on their way to Bladensburg. Then, strange to 


say, instead of going on to Bladensburg and arranging for the 
battle to defend the Capital, he took his troops back to the 
Navy Yard bridge and prepared it for burning. He seemed 
to think that Gen. Ross might attack that bridge. 

In the morning hearing that the British had started from 
Mt. Calvert for Bladensburg at daylight, he started all his 
forces in a great rush to meet them, arriving at the west side 
of the village at about the same time that the enemy reached 
the east side. If Gen. Winder had been like Sheridan, Grant 
or Lee, our 10,000 troops might have won even then. 

The British marched through the village at 1:30 P. M. 
As soon as they came on the bridge where the rifle-men and can¬ 
noneers could see them, they were met with what the British 
soldiers said was as fierce a fire as they had ever met in Europe. 
They lost about 500 men. Falling back they went above the 
bridge and waded the river coming thus on the American left 
flank which they turned back, their bayonets being too much 
for the Militia. Their second brigade followed, turning our 
right fllank into retreat. Barney’s cannoneers fought like 
heroes and stood at their guns until all others had retreated in 
confusion. The Commodore was severely wounded and taken 
prisoner and many of his men were bayonetted. The U. S. 
had lost only 26 killed and 51 wounded. 

The frightened Militia-men halted not their running until 
they had gone through Washington, over the heights of George¬ 
town, out into Montgomery Co., Maryland, to its county seat, 
Rockville. 

After resting two hours, the British marched to Washing¬ 
ton, halting near the Capitol. Gen. Ross and Admiral Cock- 
burn with some followers rode along the streets expecting 
to find some person from whom to demand the surrender of the 
city, who would also offer to pay them an indemnity if they 
would not burn the public buildings. They found no one. 
They were fired upon from the windows of a house called the 
Gallitin; the General’s horse was killed and some of his men 
were wounded or killed. This so enraged them that they 
burned the house, killed its occupants and began a work of gen¬ 
eral destruction, burning the Capitol, destroying public records, 
libraries and everything they chose to. Our Navy Yard officers 
had set fire to ships and buildings according to orders. 


18 


There was only one foreign diplomatic official in the city, 
Monsieur Serurier of France who lived near the President’s 
house, which had been abandoned by Dolly Madison, that fa¬ 
mous hostess. The President had gone to the woods with the 
army! 

Gen. Ross and Admiral Cockburn were seen by Monsieur 
Serurier to pile up furniture and inflammable materials in these 
beautiful rooms and set them on fire. Their vengeance over¬ 
ran all proper bounds. Although they had done much plunder¬ 
ing on the bays and rivers, yet in many instances when the 
people let them have all they wanted to carry off, they did no 
damage or personal injury; but in this case they had an excuse 
to plead. Early in the spring of 1814 some American soldiers 
had crossed Lake Erie from Ohio into Canada and burned some 
distilleries, mills and private houses at Newark. 

When Gen. Ross had been at Bermuda in July he had re¬ 
ceived orders from his Government to retaliate by burning all 
the government property he could capture until the American 
Government should be heard from in apology and reparation. 
This was done later, and the officer who had led the Newark 
expedition was court-martialed and punished; but of this Gen. 
Ross had not been informed. 

The second brigade of the British had come to Washing¬ 
ton by the light of the burning buildings, and all remained at 
Capitol Hill through the night and the next forenoon; they 
had not expected such an easy victory and Gen. Ross did not 
want to risk another battle so far from their ships. Now they 
saw the American soldiers and Militia-men gathering in from 
their flight, and feared an attack; but about 2 P. M. a tornado 
came on, unroofing buildings and scaring both armies. Neither 
side was ready for fight then. The British took advantage of 
this condition to make their escape. Toward evening they 
made up great bon-fires piling on fuel as night advanced and 
started their retreat at 9 P. M. 

On reaching Bladensburg Gen. Ross found that his wounded 
had been well cared for by the citizens. He made arrangements 
with Commodore Barney to continue this care, and taking along 
all who could walk, they hurried to their gunboats and barges, 
clambered aboard with their plunder and got down to Bene¬ 
dict by nightfall of the 28th. 


19 


Here really begins the story of the flag song. As they had 
gone toward Washington, several of the officers had lodged at 
the house of Dr. Wm Beanes, a physician at Upper Marl¬ 
boro on the west branch of the Patuxent. He had treated them 
well, but as they retreated, some soldiers stopped there to get 
more plunder. Dr. Beanes headed a company of Militia-men 
who caught and imprisoned some of these marauders. Word 
of this reached the British Admirals ship and some dragoons 
came back, took the Doctor out of his bed, put him on a horse 
in front of a trooper and carried him to the fleet where they 
held him prisoner on the Admiral’s flagship the “Surprise”. 

Our authorities at Washington sent a member of an ar¬ 
tillery company in Georgetown named Francis Scott Key (a 
lawyer) and Col. Jno. S. Skinner, flag officer, commanding 
the “Minden”, to the Admiral commanding the fleet at the 
mouth of the Patuxent with a document asking for the Doc¬ 
tor’s release. A copy of this document follows. 

Annapolis, Md., August, 1814. 
Executive Department of the State of Maryland, 

To Gen. Robert Ross, 

Commanding British forces. 

I am informed that a party from your army a few nights 
ago, took Dr. Beanes, a respectable aged man out of his bed, 
treated him with great rudeness and indignity, taking him to 
your camp; and that he is now on shipboard. The bearer of 
this goes to your camp conveying some necessaries for the 
Doctor for his accommodation, and to ascertain what has oc¬ 
casioned this procedure so unusual in warfare among civilized 
nations. I am persuaded it will only be necessary to enquire 
into the case to cause the Doctor to be released. I am informed 
he is an honorable man and would not have been guilty of any 
act intentionally or knowingly contrary to the usages of war, 
or derogatory to the character of a man of honor. I hope on 
inquiry, justice and humanity will induce you to permit the 
Doctor to return to his family and friends as speedily as pos¬ 
sible. 

Signed:—Lev. Winder. 

Per Col. Jno. S. Skinner 
and Francis Scott Key. 


20 


Inclosure was: “Pass the bearer to enemy’s camp for the 
purpose of carrying necessaries to Dr. Beanes.” 

This request was refused, and the messengers were also 
held because the Admiral did not want them to return to tell of 
the attack on Baltimore that he was preparing to make. Gen. 
Ross was saying that he would make his winter headquarters 
in Baltimore and subjugate the whole coast. “ ’Twas a hand¬ 
some boast, Had they not forgot, alas! to reckon with the 
host.” 

As soon as possible the fleet sailed up the bay carrying our 
poet, his companions and ship with them. On Saturday even¬ 
ing, September 10th, they anchored at the mouth of the Pa- 
tapsco River at North Point. 

On Sunday, September the 11th, the Admiral sent a ship 
and boats up the river to take soundings and found it was too 
shallow for the larger men-of-war to get near to Fort Mc¬ 
Henry which stood across their way to the city. Our people 
thought they were intending to land and alarm guns were fired, 
and congregations left the churches as the American army came 
down the Neck to oppose them. 

At daybreak, on the 12th of September, Gen. Ross and his 
3721 soldiers came ashore on North Point. Some Militia¬ 
men being captured and brought before the General were asked 
whether they had many Regulars. The answer was: “Mostly 
Militia.” 

“I will take Baltimore if it rains Militia!” said the Gen¬ 
eral. He had ordered his breakfast from a farmer named 
Gorsuch and after it was eaten and inquiry was made as to 
whether supper should be prepared for him at the same place he 
replied: “I will have supper in Baltimore or in Hell.” 

Our first skirmishers being attacked and driven back, the 
General rode to the front to see the fun. Two young men, 
Wells and McComas, had remained hidden behind some fruit 
trees near a spring. Seeing the General one of them said: 
“That is he. He rides a white horse today.” He had seen 
him in Washington riding this horse which he had captured 
after his own animal was shot from under him. 

Both young men fired, and the General fell mortally 
wounded. This checked their advance, though, under Col. 
Brooke, they pushed our men back some miles up the Neck. 
Our soldiers fought manfully. It began to rain and they 

21 


had to screen the pans of their “flint-lock” guns to keep their 
powder dry. We had thrown up some earthworks at Ham- 
stead Hill, and here the British land advance was checked and 
they retreated to North Point before night. 

In the meanwhile, Admiral Cockburn had sent 9 “Rocket 
Boats” and all the ships that could get up the Patapsco channel 
to bombard the fort, at the time the land attack failed. This 
bombardment began at daylight on September 13th. The Ad¬ 
miral had put our prisoners off his flagship on to their own 
boat, the “Minden”, and taken them out where they would be 
exposed to the fire from our guns. The Americans had put up 
a good number of small earthworks and batteries on the differ¬ 
ent branches and points of the Patapsco River; our leaders were 
competent and our men brave regular soldiers with everything 
prepared as well as it could be since they had really waked up. 

The British anchored outside the range of our guns on the 
fort. Their guns and bombs were heavier than ours, but of the 
1600 bombs they threw, only about 400 were found to have 
fallen inside the fort. 

About 3:00 P. M. one of our 18-pounders was thrown off 
its carriage, and a large body of our men gathered to put it up 
again. Six of the bombships drew in closer to fire on this 
crowd, but our gunners raked them so fiercely that they soon 
got back out of range. Then our men sang out: “Three 
cheers!” They had the true American spirit in those days. 

This was old-fashioned gunnery, not worthy of mention 
now except as a matter of history. It is said that when the 
bombs were fired the ships were driven by the rebound two 
feet into the water. 

The fight kept up until about 1 A. M. on September 14th, 
when the firing ceased. The British now prepared for making 
a landing, and assault on the fort, sending a great number of 
small boats supposed to contain 2,000 armed men with lad¬ 
ders to scale the walls and take the fort. As they came near 
the lights from their own rockets revealed them and our men 
repulsed them completely, sinking one or two of the boats. 
They then drew off and began a retreat to their ships and 
down the bay. Some ships stopped at Tangier Island where 
they had a large camp as they came up the bay; here they 
buried the remains of some soldiers who had died after the 


22 


bombardment and defeat. ^1 he body of Gen. Ross was carried 
on the Royal Tonnant to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where it was 
buried with military honors. Captain Peter Parker had been 
killed in a midnight attack in Maryland, and his body was 
also taken to Halifax for burial. 

Swift sailing vessels carried the word to London of the 
British failures at Baltimore and also at Lake Erie and Lake 
Champlain on September 10th and 11th. The American Com¬ 
missioners secured favorable terms of peace signed at Ghent, 
December 24th, 1815. The official messenger arrived at New 
York February 11th, 1816, but a smart skipper named Chris¬ 
topher Hughes Jr. of Baltimore who had sailed from Stock¬ 
holm in the schooner Transit, reached Annapolis February 
12th, and bore the news of peace to Washington before the 
ratified Treaty had arrived there. 

To return to our friends aboard the “Minden”. The crisis 
was passed when the British ships sailed sullenly down the bay. 
On the deck of the " Minden” our poet and his friends looked 
often at their watches wishing for the daylight to come that 
they might know their own fate and that of their Nation. 
Having watched the flag all through the night by the light of 
bursting bombs, they saw it as the day advanced (it was 
probably a foggy morning as it had been when I was there) 
but could not at first distinguish which flag was there. Later 
on they saw the British carrying wounded men to their ships 
and were told by their guards that as soon as the fleet was 
ready to sail they would be released. 

No wonder the poet was glad to see “the broad stripes and 
bright stars”, and he wrote down these lines as they came to 
him on deck during the day, and on the boat going ashore, on 
the back of a letter he had in his pocket. 

When he got ashore and to his hotel, he wrote the poem 
out in full as it is now. His brother-in-law Judge Nicholson, 
saw its merit and next morning took it to the office of the 
“American” which had suspended publication since September 
10th, all hands being on the defenses. An apprentice named 
Samuel Sand set up the type and Thomas Murphy, one of the 
editors, got leave of absence on September 21st to publish it. 

On November 12th it was advertised to be sung by S. S. 
Mackall at a public meeting. This was the second time it had 


23 


been heard in public and it attained great popularity as soon 
as it was known. Set to the music of “To Ancreon in Heaven” 
this inspiring song quickly became the anthem of the Nation. 

THE SONG. 

This song has such a clear historical setting, and, although 
in poetical measure, contains such plain allusions to the situ¬ 
ation that the time, place, and occasion of its writing cannot 
well be mistaken by any American citizen. That this great 
patriotic song may be more of an uplift to those who sing it, 
I have described these scenes to you, and now ask you to think 
for a moment of the circumstances under which it was written. 

Think of the poet and his friends held as prisoners on the 
little ship out in the bay, exposed to the cannonading all that 
long rainy day and for half the night; and then, the firing hav¬ 
ing ceased after midnight, think of their suspense through the 
tedious hours until the daylight came slowly, and the fog 
cleared away. Then minute after minute as one glimpse of the 
flag on the fort came to them through the mist, followed by 
another and another, clearer and clearer still, imagine their re¬ 
lief and joy when they were finally assured that it was the same 
flag their eyes had beheld the twilight before. 

These lines seem to me to be connected with the booming 
of cannons, the bursting of shells, the movements of armies, 
ships and gunboats, and the sullen retreat of the enemy leaving 
our shores forever. There has seldom been a word-picture so 
vividly painted. The eagerness expressed in the first line: 
“Oh say can you see?” brings the whole scene before us and we 
find ourselves peering with these men of old through “the 
dawn’s early light” in an earnest effort to see if “our flag is 
still there!” 

We share their glad relief as the breeze which “fitfully 
blows” upon the fog curtains finally drives them away al¬ 
together, and the “gleam of the morning’s first beam” brings 
out in their full glory the “broad stripes and bright stars” and 
no further doubt existed that “the Star Spangled Banner” was 
waving in triumph over a land that was once more freed from 
“wild war’s desolation”. 


24 


There is a spirit of true devotion and patriotism in these 
lines: 

“Blest with victory and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land, 
Praise the Power that has made and preserved us a Nation.” 

His confidence that “conquer we must, when our cause it 
is just” and the perfect faith expressed by the words of the 
motto “In God is our trust” is surely an inspiration to us 
all to accept his final declaration that this Star Spangled Ban¬ 
ner of ours shall ever wave triumphantly over us, despite the 
evil efforts of our foes, so long as our homes are “homes of the 
brave” and our land the “land of the free”. 

In writing this song, Francis Scott Key has endeared him¬ 
self to every loyal American citizen, and though, as years roll 
by, his memory may become dim to the rising generation, I will 
prophesy that though they may forget the singer, they will 
never forget the song. 


25 


®()t i?tar=g>pangleb fanner 


Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight, 
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? 
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 

Gave proof thro’ the night that our flag was still there. 

Chorus: 

Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave? 

On the shore dimly seen thro’ the mists of the deep, 

Where the foes haughty host in dread silence reposes, 

What is that which the breeze o’er the towering steep 
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? 

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam 
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream. 

Chorus : 

’Tis the star-spangled banner; oh, long may it wave, 

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

And where is that band, who so vauntingly swore, 

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion, 

A home and a country should leave us no more? 

Their blood had washed out their foul footstep’s pollution. 

No refuge could save the hireling and slave 

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave: 

Chorus: 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 


26 



Oh thus be it ever when free men shall stand 
Between their loved home and wild war’s desolution; 

Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n rescued land 
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! 
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just, 

And this be our motto, “In God is our trust”. 

Chorus: 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 


& Jtlemorial Bap pageant 


Scene aboard the schooner “Minden ”; in the distance is a 
fort and slowly coming into view above it, as the conversation 
goes on, an American flag. Time: Early morning of a foggy 
day. 

Dramatis Personae:—Francis Scott Key of Washington, D. C. 

Dr. Wm. Beanes of Upper Marlboro, Md. 

Col. Jno. W. Skinner of Baltimore, Md. 
American sailors, British guards, etc. 

Key:— “Say shipmates, the bomb-shells and rockets seem to 

to have stopped since that last fierce rush. I won¬ 
der if they have taken the fort.” 

Beanes:—“Captain, it’s hours now since we saw any bombs 
bursting. I wonder if the rain has beaten off the 
storming party.” 

Key:— “’Tis awful dark! Dr. Beanes don’t you wish you 

were in Marlboro?” 

Beanes:— “Col. Skinner, when will it ever be daylight? Cap¬ 
tain, can’t you see one bit of glim in the East?” 
Skinner:—“No, weather is too thick.” 

Key:— “Say! I can see the fort outlined on the point. Can 

you see anything like a flag on it, Captain?” 


27 




Skinner:—“No. It’s too foggy.” 

Key:— “Look again!” 

Skinner:—“Yes, I believe I can see something red.” 

Key:— “Look again, all of you! Yes, now it is plainer; 

the sun shines up there through the fog!” 

Beanes:— “It is a flag! Is it ours ? Look hard! See the re¬ 
flection in the water now! Yes, it is a flag, and 
Glory! Glory! Glory! it is the same flag that we saw 
yesterday, all day, and all night, until the firing 
ceased, by the light of the bombs and rockets. 

Key:— “Yes, yes, it is! The stars and stripes!” 

Beanes:— “Oh, I can see, I can see it is our flag that is up 
there!” 

Key:— “Our flag is still there! It’s our flag! We are not 

conquered yet!” 

Skinner:—“We shall not be kept prisoners on this ship much 
longer!” 

Beanes:— “Oh, it’s our stripes, and our starry flag!” 

All:— “Hurrah for our flag! our flag! Three cheers! 

Three cheers! Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!” 

As the flag comes plainly into view, the music strikes up 

and everyone joins in singing: 


“The Star Spangled Banner.” 


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